In 1793, only three years after the first US Copyright Act was passed, the French National Convention passed a decree providing for copyright protection lasting the life of the author plus ten years.5 (Thomas Paine, who “counted copyright agitation among his many other revolutionary interests”, was a member of the legislature that passed the French act).6 The shift to a life-based term England would follow France and adopt a term based on the life of the author shortly after the… [read post]